IT Life

It has been a while so I believe its time for an update.
I have been very busy since I have started my new job at Powercode/Bertram wireless. Bertram wireless Is a wireless ISP, or WISP. Powercode Is a billing/customer management system for ISPs. I support both Bertram and Powercode. I am also planning my wedding. We wanted to have it at the Bristol Renaissance Fair but the person in charge of working with us rarely returned calls. Instead we are going to have it at his mother’s farm house. We still plan on having the renaissance theme.
I plan on trying to make an update every week from now on. I still plan on completing my Cisco notes. I want to take my CCNA by June 6th at the latest. Then I will focus on VMware/Linux. I have to get used to Linux because the Powercode system is ran on a Linux server, also I just want to learn it. I also want to learn MySQL and PHP.
I have looked at a few books. The “Cisco CCNA Routing and Switching 200-120 Official Cert Guide Library” is terrible. They have so much useless fluff it makes it more effort than needed to find the relevant information. The “CCNA Routing and Switching Review Guide” by Todd Lammle is a very good book. It is much more to the point. I recommend it highly. I also recommend “31 Days Before Your CCNA Routing and Switching Exam” and “31 Days Before Your CCENT”. It takes both books to cover just taking the CCNA exam. Both books are very to the point and have a lot of meat to them and act as a good review.
I have set up some recording software so I can make videos of the labs in the future.
If you want me to write about something specific, have a question, or just want to connect; you can contact me through Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, or commenting.

This part will cover: Demarcation points, DTE-DCEs, Serial cables, Smart Serial Cables, Serial bandwidth, and Overview of WAN encapsulation protocols.

Demarcation Point

Prior to deregulation, telephone companies owned the local loop, wiring, and equipment at the customers location. Deregulation forced companies to unbundle local loop infrastructure and allow other suppliers to provide equipment and services. Demarcation Points became necessary to establish who (customer or provider) owned and were responsible for which hardware.

The picture shows demarcation points in the United States and Internationally. In the US the CSU/DSU is the subscribers responsibility. This hardware may be provided by the service provider.

DTE-DCE

A DTE is usually a CPE router or could be anything directly connecting to the service provider network. A DCE is Usually a modem or CSU/DSU. Chapter 2 part 2 Covered DTE-DCE.

Serial Cables

DCEs and DTEs were based on two types of equipment; Terminal equipment that sent and received data and the equipment that relayed data. The RS-232 standard was developed with different wiring on both ends to support the original concept. The reasons are no longer significant. Two cables remain; A DTE to DCE cable and a DTE to DTE cable. The original RS-232 only defined DCE/DTE connections.

DTE/DCE interface standards define four specifications:

Mechanical/physical – number of pins and connector type
Electrical – Defines voltage levels for 0/1
Functional – Specifies the function that are preformed by assigning meanings to each signaling line in the interface
Procedural- Specifies the sequence of events for transmitting data

DCE/DTE cables are shield serial cables. The router end may be a DB-60 connector.

Picture of a DB60 port.

Null modem cables were developed for DTE to DTE connections. They are used for connecting devices without a modem using a RS-232 connection. The transmit (Tx) and receive (Rx) lines are cross linked. A clock signal is still required. It can come from an external device or by configuring one of the DTE devices as a DCE.

This picture shows the pin-out of the Null modem cable.

Smart Serial Cable support higher port densities in a smaller form factor. They were made by Cisco and use a 26 pin connector that is more compact than DB-60.

A smart Serial Cable and a Wic-2t card showing the interface

WAN providers or the CSU/DSU usually dictates the cable type.

Cisco supports EIA/TIA-232, 449, 530, V.35, and x.21 serial standards.

More examples of physical serial ports

Serial Bandwidth

Bandwidth is expressed as a digital signal level (DSx) number (DS1, DS2, DS3, ect)
DS0 is the fundamental speed of 64kbps and is the bandwidth required for an uncompressed digital phone call.
The speeds can be incrementally increased for faster transmission
24 DS0s can be bundled to get DS1, or T1 speeds. 28 DS0s bundled is a DS3 or T3 Line speeds.
OC rates are transmission standards of sonet fiber networks. OC1 is the base rate of 51.84mbps. OC3 is three times faster than OC1 or 155.52mbps.

Wan Encapsulation Protocols

Packets are encapsulated, by protocols, into frames for transmission over the WAN. The choice of protocol depends on the WAN technology.

HDLC

Default point-to-point protocol on Cisco devices
Used as basis for synchronous PPP

PPP

Used for router to router and host to host connections
Can be synchronous or asynchronous
Works with IPv4/IPv6
Built off of HDLC
Built in security of PAP/CHAP

Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP)

Standard protocol for Point-to-Point connections using TCP/IP
Mostly replaced by PPP
X.25/Link Access Procedure, Balanced (LAPB)
ITU-T Standard for Connections between a DTE and DCE for remote terminal access and computer communications in public networks
LAPB is a data link layer protocol
X.25 is a predecessor to frame relay

Frame Relay

Industry standard that handles multiple Virtual Circuits (VCs) over a switched network.
Is a Data Link layer protocol
Replaces X.25
Eliminates time-consuming error correction and flow control from X.25

ATM

International standard for cell relay
Handles Multiple data types (Voice/Data/Video)
Sends data in fixed-length 53byte cells
Allows processing on hardware that reduces transit delays
Uses High-speed media (E3/Sonet/T3)

This chapter will be continued in Part 3.